BloodRed Tears
by fiesa
Summary: The image of the girl flashes before her eyes. Anko always knew there was a reason why she ran from her past. OneShot, rated T for fighting scenes and mild violence.


**Blood-Red Tears**

_Summary: The image of the girl flashes before her eyes. Anko always knew there was a reason why she hid from her past. OneShot. _

_Warning: Rated T for fighting scenes. Last chance to run._

_Set: Story-unrelated, future-fic_

_Disclaimer: I don´t own anything related to Naruto except a wild imagination and too many fan fictions._

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The image of the child is embedded into Anko´s mind.

She can see the girl they have passed mere hours ago, the little girl in her red dress, standing at the street´s side. She hasn´t seen Anko and her ANBU team. They weave through the people crowding the streets of the tiny little village like shadows, pass them like the wind passes through the trees. They weren´t seen, but the woman has seen the girl. Laughing. Smiling. Holding her mother´s hand while watching the midsummer´s parade.

-V-

_The first time Anko killed another person, she was seven years old._

She wasn´t a genin yet, she hadn´t even graduated. Her fingers were stiff, and her hand was numb, and her entire body was trembling in terror. She didn´t know what it meant – this situation, the words mumbled into her ear, the hands frantically searching her body, the hot breath on her face. Her mother has brought this man into her house – her mother, who left her alone for days, who abandoned her in the darkness of their tiny, dirty, cold little apartment. Her mother, who sometimes came back swaying and shouting and _stinking_ of something Anko couldn´t recognize but that smelled _foul_ to her anyway. Her mother who screamed at her – meaningless, angry words, uttered between choked sobs and hysterical laughter – who hit her and then apologized and held her so close Anko could hardly breathe. Anko had heard her mother screaming in her room, and then there were those sounds, the hard slapping of skin on skin, brutally and loud. Sometime later, the man would leave and her mother would lay there bleeding, dark blue and black splotches on her skin.

Anko was seven, and she was lying on the kitchen floor in the shards of a few broken bottles and her mother hadn´t been back for the last two days. And the man had come and had shouted and smashed everything that had been standing on the table – a few empty bottles, a plastic dish, the last cup Anko had found in the cupboard – and then he had grabbed her. His hands were moving up and down her body, and Anko had tried to scream, but _Nobody can hear you, nobody will help you, this is between your fucking shit mother and me, go ahead – scream as loud as you want to!_ And he was strong; she was just a little girl. Her hands curled around the shards of broken glass. She didn´t even feel the pain when it cut into her hand deeply, she only felt the hot, wet blood. Pressing her eyes shut and tasting blood – _he forced his lips on hers, bit down on her lower lip, his breath tasted so horrible – _she brought her hands down. The man cried out in pain and raised his head to look at her. Blood trickled down his neck, and more blood ran down her arms and his eyes slowly clouded over. He fell on her, hard, and Anko tried to worm her way out from under his heavy body in panic. She scrambled away from the dead man, as far as the little kitchen allowed, and hid under the bench in the corner, her eyes still staring at the man in terror.

When she didn´t come to school for the next two days, they finally found her. In the hospital, they said she was lucky to have hit the main artery. Anko heard the words, but she didn´t know what they meant.

-V-

"They have been here," the man in the dog mask said. He had been leading the little team of ANBU that had been dispatched to find and kill two missing nin who had stolen political information from one of the Fire country´s lord. Two dogs were crouching next to him. "And not long ago."

"We´d better get going," Anko decided. She let her eyes wander to the third member of their cell. The girl was wearing the same black uniform and armor she and Yashiro were wearing. Her face was covered by the same white porcelain mask, but instead of showing a dog like Yashiro´s did, her mask depicted a stag. Blond hair was pulled up in a high, tight pony tail. The girl nodded curtly. Anko watched her from behind her own cat mask. This was her first mission, and she had done well so far. She signaled Yashiro, and they continued their hunt.

-V-

_Her first genin team lasted half a year._

When she tried to remember her first friends, her first _family_, she saw her sensei – nice, caring, strong Miki-sensei who brought them cookies and lemonade on one day and made them train so hard they almost fell asleep on the training grounds the next day – die, yelling at them to _Run! Run, idiots! – _a dozen kunai or so piercing her entire body, her blond hair matted with blood but still clinging unto the dying leader of the enemies´ team. She only saw Yuna go down in a fountain of blood, her body almost cut into half by the Iwa nin. The genjutsu she had created wavered and disappeared. Furious, Yuki, her twin brother, stormed forward, only to be blasted back by a massive cascade of rocks, loosened by an explosive tag. Anko saw his face one last time before he was buried beneath the avalanche: his surprise, the slow realization, the knowledge, the fear. He died faster than Yuna, he should have been glad. Anko threw herself into the fight, knowing there was no way she could survive. They were less tired and they hadn´t lost a single team member yet. Only after she had spent three weeks in the hospital, drifting in and out of merciful unconsciousness, she realized they had to be about as young as her team had been. Otherwise they would never have left her lying there without making sure she _was_ _dead._

When she was debriefed, they told her she had been lucky another team had heard the sounds of the fight and had rushed to help them. Hadn´t they found her – and hadn´t one member been a medic – she would have died. Anko heard the words, but she didn´t care about them.

-V-

Yashiro stopped abruptly and held up his hand. Anko and Ino froze on the spot. Slowly creeping forward, Anko reached her tracker and carefully surveyed the area in front of them. The forest was thinning slowly, indicating at the fact that they were reaching the boundaries of Hidden Leaf territory. A little clearing lay before her eyes. The two missing nin they had been hunting down were perched down there, quietly conferring. She knew they´d have to take them out before they left their territory. It was too dangerous if they did – they might have arranged a meeting in order to sell the information already.

"Take them out," Anko ordered silently and they dropped to the ground without a sound. The missing nin, still keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings, reacted instantly and threw themselves forward.

-V-

_The man who would be her new teacher found her on the streets._

It was raining that day, pouring down like heaven was mourning all his lost children at once. Anko lifted her face towards the dark, grey clouds and closed her eyes. She was already completely soaked, it didn´t matter anymore. She had spent the afternoon with Kurenai, one of the few persons she didn´t want to strangle after five minutes in the same room. The soft kunoichi was her exact opposite, but maybe it was for that reason that Anko liked her, even if she didn´t let anyone notice. But Kurenai had other friends, as well, and they had filed through the door, laughing and talking and shouting, dragging along a few boxes of take-out and drinks, calling for Kurenai to get down so they could celebrate her birthday. They suddenly fell silent when they saw Anko and she had excused herself rather rudely and fled the house. Kurenai had called after her, but in her current state she was in no place to follow her. Just because Kurenai was _her _best friend, it didn´t mean Anko was _Kurenai´s _best friend as well… Anko had reached the little bridge when she realized she had run through the whole village without looking left or right.

On the bridge – on _her_ bridge – stood a dark figure. Long, black hair was clinging to the man´s face. Anko stared at him angrily – _How could he dare take her place like that – _and turned around to leave.

"Wait," the man said softly. She froze. There was something in his voice that made her want to run – and to walk over to him at the same time.

"You´re Mitarashi Anko, aren´t you?"

So he had read her files. So what.

"Why do you care?"

The man chuckled – it wasn´t a soft sound but harsh and somehow _hungry_. "You´ll be my new student."

She froze. Since her team and her sensei had died one year ago, nobody had been assigned to teach her. She was too old to be put into a new genin team and to young and inexperienced to be working alone – and, probably nobody wanted to have her either. She glared at the man challengingly.

"Who said that?"

"Orders," the man snorted and something glowed in his eyes and disappeared. "Orders from the Hokage." He looked at her closely.

"You seem like you can work hard," he said finally. "Maybe it won´t be such a burden to train you."

Anko heard the words but she didn´t believe they would change anything.

-V-

Two ANBU were far more than enough to take care of two low-class missing nin. She´d been aware of that fact when she had been briefed and she had chosen this team because she had wanted to see what Ino was capable of. She had trained the girl and knew her strengths and weaknesses, but that was different than actually _seeing_ her in the field. The girl hadn´t disappointed her yet. She fought with a furious intensity, with a speed that surprised even Anko from time to time, and had developed her sword-fighting skills to near perfection. The girl had only possessed a few specialized ninjutsu and the average genjutsu and taijutsu abilities, so they had been working hard. Taijutsu had been the most difficult, because she hadn´t been used to it. Now, Anko actually felt pride when watching her.

Yashiro and his dogs immediately engaged the first missing nin. The traitor threw a gas bomb at him in order to disorient him but the dogs made him out in a matter of seconds. Anko observed the fight closely, at the same time watching her surroundings for unpleasant surprises. Ino had sheathed her katana and was evading possibly deathly blows delivered by the second one – obviously a trained medical nin, a fact that carried a certain irony for Ino had some training in that area as well – by moving quickly and precise. The moment the man lashed out his foot in a roundhouse kick, she ducked, launched herself at him and dealt him a blow that made him slam into the next tree with excruciating force. Ino threw herself after him and nailed him to the tree with a few kunai. The man, still alive, stared at her grimly – and started laughing quietly. Immediately, Anko was with her student.

"Watch out-"

The explosion ripping through the forest was strong enough to annihilate a wide arc of trees, one of Yashiro´s tracking dogs and both the missing nin. The three ANBU were thrown back and immediately jumped onto their feet again. At the same moment, a dozen white-clad figures dropped from the trees and surrounded them.

-V-

_Orochimaru trained her for two years._

He never asked for less than everything she had. He never let her off even if she was too exhausted to drag herself back home to her dark and empty apartment, and she was glad for it.

He didn´t invite her to his own home, as she had seen Obito´s teacher do.

He didn´t take her out for lunch, as Kurenai´s sensei did.

He didn´t carry her when she was exhausted, he didn´t smile at her when she had done well, he didn´t ask her how she felt after a mission. But because she was his only student, he took her everywhere. And Anko found she was trying hard, she was giving everything to please him. He had, in a twisted way, become the only family she had. He didn´t mind when she followed him around, he just expected her to learn from whatever he did.

Their relationship had its limits, though. If he told her to leave, she left, regardless of where they were and what they did. One time, she tried to find out what he was doing every time he disappeared. He caught her after two blocks – he had probably tested whether she was able to follow him that long, and sent her away with one single look. Anko turned on her heels and fled. She never tried to find out what he did again.

The only time she fought with Kurenai was when her friend repeated something she had heard from someone else – presumably Asuma, because he was the one most likely to overhear a conversation taken place in the Hokage´s office. Anko screamed at her friend that these were lies _And Orochimaru-sensei would never do something like that he might seem cold but you just don´t understand him those are lies lies lieslieslies – _and she stormed from the house and ran to find her sensei and told him what terrible things they were telling about him and that she didn´t believe a word. He listened to her quietly and asked her calmly whether she would always be that loyal to him and she nodded. Then, he told her, he would show her something and she could help him with something he had developed, something new and great, and Anko followed him and was terrified by what she saw. Because every word – _every single word – _Kurenai had said had been true.

Her teacher told her he was testing a new seal and she would be the first person to receive it – _a gift for you, my little student, because you have served me well all this time – _and she should feel honored. And then he was in front of her, his cold hands on her arms, his damp breath in her face, and she was terrified, she couldn´t move, she couldn´t scream – a sharp pain in her neck and liquid fire in her veins, flowing through her body – and then darkness, black darkness and pain – _so much pain ohgodohgodithurtssomuch – _pain, for a long time, and nothing else.

Her teacher sat next to her, on the cold, hard stone floor, and talked, his voice a triumphant whisper. About his plans, his work, the effect of this seal and that when she survived – _if _she was to survive – she would be the first one of his army, his left hand, she would help him to conquer Konoha and become Hokage.

Anko heard the words and she wasn´t gone far enough to not understand that she had been used.

-V-

A dozen figures surrounded them, clad in white cloaks and armor, a picture that would have made her laugh if she hadn´t noticed the cold glint in their eyes and the way the figures shifted into battle stance immediately.

These weren´t normal, average missing nin. These were highly trained shinobi.

"Who are you?" She asked them, her voice crisp and cold. One of them stepped towards her.

"Who we are and who we work for is nothing of your business," he answered, his voice an inaudible sneer. Anko, who was used to reading behind the lines, saw he was estimating her and her team, trying to see how much would be necessary to bring them down.

"We are just looking for information."

"Sorry the information blew itself up before you could get it," Anko shot back. Ino behind her was picking herself up from the ground quickly – she held her left wrist which she probably had broken in the explosion – and Yashiro was directly behind her, as well, his rigid posture a clear signal how furious he was after the loss of one of his dogs.

The enemy laughed.

"Not that kind of information," he said and shook his head in a tut-tut gesture. "My employers don´t care what kind of bribery and fiscal fraud the Fire Country´s lords´ want to hide. They would like some information on other Hidden Villages´ Strength…"

He made a pause. Probably he was smiling, but the white piece of cloth in front of his face hid his expression.

"Like information on Konoha-Gakure, for example."

Anko felt cold sweat run down her back. She snorted again. "And you believe by capturing us you´re going to find out what Hidden Leaf´s weaknesses are?"

"Oh, I know any ANBU of Konoha´s is ready to die instead of letting himself be captured…"

The man´s voice had a pleasing note. "But then, of course, I´m willing to try a few times until I get hand on some Konoha nin."

Behind her back, Ino and Yashiro didn´t move. Anko´s fists clenched. She knew her team was ready to fight. "So try to get us."

"It´s my pleasure."

One tilt of his head and eleven shinobi were on them, trying to take them alive. Anko didn´t like that prospect much.

-V-

_She wasn´t dead._

Pain was still filling every fiber of her body, lending a blurred edge to her field of vision. She was still lying on the cold stone floor, she realized, after some time that felt like forever. Her body was covered in cold sweat; her hair was sticky and matted with blood where her head had collided with the stone tiles. Painfully slowly she raised her hand and tried to sit up. Something hot was burning at the nape of her neck. The memories returned in a flash and she closed her eyes and felt the urge to roll up on the floor like a cat and cry. She resisted, because she first had to get out of here. The noises filtered into her brain slowly – the wailing and screaming and the dull _thunk_ of something being hit against the wall repeatedly – and she scrambled to her feet. Orochimaru-sen- - She bit her tongue – wasn´t anywhere, so she pulled herself upright with the help of the metal bars of the next cage. Whatever was inside launched itself at her, teeth bare, saliva running down the sides of the mouth. Screaming, she tumbled back, staring at the human being – _the monster – _inside the cage. It had been a human being _once_ – dark eyes stared at her, insanity mirrored in them. Anko turned and ran.

She couldn´t remember where she had gone. She couldn´t remember what she had done, but then she was in front of Kurenai´s house and her friend was staring at her terrified.

"Oh God, Anko, we thought you were dead – _he_ had killed you – where have you been – what has he done to you?"

Anko collapsed at the front door, falling forwards into her friend´s arms.

Kurenai sat with her the entire time, helping her to eat, to drink, cooling her forehead when she had fever, holding her when she woke up screaming in terror. The Hokage sent shinobi to question her, but she didn´t talk at all, just stared at the ceiling of Kurenai´s room without even listening. The Hokage sent skilled medics to look at her seal and to treat her, and Anko let everything pass without reaction. She just held onto Kurenai´s hand as if letting go meant she would drown in the pain and the darkness once again.

Kurenai was the one who told her, eventually, what had happened since she had disappeared five days ago. Her teacher had experimented on people of Konoha for a long time, and he has used her as another test object. The Hokage had finally forced him to reveal his intentions and Orochimaru had left Konoha, left her behind once he knew his seal wouldn´t kill her.

Anko heard the words and curled up sobbing, for the first time in her life. She had been used. She hadn´t been more than a puppet. And Kurenai stayed with her, held her hand and whispered soft, meaningless words.

-V-

It should have been an easy mission.

Search, Find, Destroy. No hampering. Just two averagely skilled missing nin and her highly trained team. Now they were facing a dozen unknown enemies.

"Don´t let yourself be taken," she ordered through clenched teeth, knowing she was ordering her team to kill themselves rather than be captured, and they splitted, each engaging the next possible enemies.

Anko launched a rain of kunai onto one of the four adversaries that were coming towards her, then blocked a punch to her head and ducked another one directed at her stomach. Unwilling to let them drive her into the defensive, she lashed out a kick, her hands forming seals quickly. One opponent attacked from behind and a sharp pain flashed through her left arm where he had cut her. Anko exploded in a sharp hiss and a log fell to the ground. The enemies turned on their heel to see another hail of kunai coming at them. Anko formed the seals and took a deep breath.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

The effect was instantaneous: The wire she had used to direct the kunai around her opponents and to encase them burst into flames. The man, feeling the flame-hot wires burn through the uniform cloth around his arms and legs howled in agony, the other three had been fast enough to avoid being caught. One of them formed seals while the other two attacked her anew. They were probably supposed to hold her attention until the last one had finished his jutsu, she thought and decided whatever jutsu the last one would use, she would let her opponents taste their own medicine. She let herself fall to the ground, swung up her legs and caught one of them square in the stomach, the other one tried to jump her but she flipped backwards and landed on her feet again, gathering her chakra to jump as soon as…

There was no warning. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed and she covered her eyes instinctively. She was barely fast enough, one of her opponents gave a sound of surprise and staggered backwards, his eyes wide but unseeing. Anko gave a short shout – "Good Girl!" – and tried to ignore the colored flecks of light dancing before her eyes as she attacked her next enemy. She didn´t waste a thought at the fact that Ino had managed her element quite well. The blinded man was disposed off quickly. Unfortunately, she didn´t react fast enough to avoid the shuriken that raced towards her, embedding themselves into the trees behind her as well as into her shoulder, her torso and her right leg.

She howled angrily and ignored the pain flashing trough her.

"Senei Jashu!"

Snakes tore out of her sleeves and she flicked them like a whip, making them speed towards the surviving two opponents. Four embedded their razor-sharp teeth into one´s arms and legs, two barely missed and fell to the ground where they disappeared in black smoke. Feeling blood well down from her shoulder and her legs and soak her uniform, she tore her hand back and the snakes ripped small pieces of flesh from their opponents´ body and dissolved like their sisters, hissing sharply one last time before disappearing.

Moving was becoming increasingly difficult but now that she had gotten rid of three of her four opponents, she ignored the last one and went after the apparent leader of their troupe. He stood calmly, watching her speed towards him, and then disappeared in a gust of leaves. An enraged cry tore from her lips at the display of the traditional Hidden Leaf´s technique. She was already turning when shuriken flashed towards her again. Ignoring the pain in her leg, she dropped to the floor, forming seals at the same time. Her body flickered and disappeared in the same instant a dozen sharp shuriken embedded themselves into the last one of her opponents who had tried to sneak up behind her. She chuckled without amusement when she saw the leader´s eyebrows rise in surprise, then she attacked again. _Where is Kurenai and her damn genjutsu when you need her._

_-V-  
_

_The next time she woke up she couldn´t remember what had happened._

Shell-shocked, she lay on the bed – it was still Kurenai´s, she knew at least _that_ much – and tried to remember how she had come there. She could remember pain, darkly, a stone room – she could remember a dark apartment and screaming voices and three faces she couldn´t quite see and training and a bridge on a dark, rainy afternoon – but other than that, her entire head was a dark, empty space, and she started screaming.

_It´s okay_, the doctors told her. _You´ll remember everything slowly. No wonder your brain is trying to get you some rest, after all you´ve been though. Just stay calm and try and eventually, it will all come back._

_It´s okay, _Kurenai told her. _You can stay with me as long as you want to. Don´t worry. You´ve had a hard time. Just get back to health, please, don´t overstrain yourself…_

Everyone said it was okay, and everyone felt sorry for her, and Anko hated the pity she saw in the people´s faces. Because nothing was okay, and she wasn´t okay, and she wouldn´t ever be okay again.

And she threw herself into what was left of her life: being a shinobi.

They tried to tell her: Kurenai, the Third, Gai, eventually even Asuma and Genma and Hayate. She didn´t listen, she didn´t care. She´d find Orochimaru and kill him. He had betrayed Hidden Leaf – he had betrayed _her _– and the worst was she couldn´t even remember how much of his doings had been her fault, how much she could have prevented, how much she had known. It was only a little step from chuunin to jounin that took two years of her life because as much as anyone told her she wasn´t at fault, as much they still _did_ mistrust her. From jounin, the next step was to ANBU, a step she managed quickly as well.

She could hide it well. Her fear, her terror, her frustration – she hid it deep inside. If she was quiet, everyone would look at her with _those_ eyes, so she learned to be loud, to speak up, and even to shout. She would make grand entrances because nobody would expect it from her, she would throw herself into danger because at least, _these_ scars would be something she deserved and that could attract attention unlayered with thoughts on _The Poor Girl how can they let her do these missions? And what if Orochimaru has corrupted her as well?_

Anko heard the words and wanted to scream.

-V-

The leader waited for her when she tackled him and avoided her punches almost gracefully. Drawing her katana in a wide arc, she slashed at him, at the same time grabbing kunai with her other hand. ANBU didn´t use many ninjutsu and genjutsu. They did the dirty work, dirty and bloody, and it mostly included hand-to-hand-combat and a lot of sweat, dirt and blood. Anko felt the wetness at her tights and her left arm was slowly growing numb. It hurt painfully. She clenched her teeth and continued fighting.

Her adversary had different plans, though. He evaded her quickly – he was fresh and well-rested, she was tired from a day of hunting and of fighting the earlier opponents – and he jumped backwards and came to stand on a high branch of one of the surrounding trees. Anko, not wanting to give him an advantage by following him into the foliage at once, glared at him, prepared to dodge whatever he threw at her. He didn´t even look at her but let his gaze swipe the area.

"The rumors about Hidden Leaf´s ANBU aren´t undue," he stated with something that looked suspiciously like a smile. Anko didn´t take her gaze of him but registered that the sounds of fighting behind her had receded. Either both Ino and Yashiro had finished up the other ones, or she´d feel the cold steel of a blade in her back soon enough.

Her opponent shrugged.

"I apologize, but I haven´t been completely honest with you." His eyes glittered. "It´s not Hidden Leaf my employers have business with – at least not this time. My sole instruction was to distract you until the real targets could be eradicated. It seems…"

He tilted his head and seemed to listen, and that was when Anko saw the flames and the clouds of smoke and ashes rise somewhere beyond the trees.

"What…"

"Oh, nothing which would concern Hidden Leaf," he said dismissively. "Since our mission is finished, I´ll take my leave. It was a pleasure fighting you. Best regards from _Hikari._ Konoha is a worthy opponent."

And he was gone.

-V-

Training new ANBU members was a waste of time.

Why should she train these rookies if she knew they´d be dead before they could blink? She refused to take any responsibility for the newest members. She´d take missions, she´d do whatever had to be done for her village, but she wouldn´t train new ANBU. She´d never be a teacher. Ever. Not even Ibiki was able to change her mind. What he eventually managed – he _could_ be persistent, if not annoying – was to cajole her into helping with the chuunin exam. Eventually, she had some fun scaring the shit out of the genin, but there wouldn´t be anything more she´d do.

Ino had been her first student.

Anko still didn´t know how the girl – You´re a_ pampered, spoilt little lady, not made for such rough missions, go home, little girl – _had finally gotten through her shield like that. Maybe it was the desperation in her actions, maybe the stubborn set of her jaws, the way her fists clenched, the way she stood up again and again every time Anko beat her to the ground in their pre-training sparring matches. She still didn´t know. She knew enough about the Yamanaka family – spies, special agents for the village, the sort of people that searched for information and retreated for others to do the dirty work – to wonder why the girl wanted to be an ANBU so badly. But she wouldn´t train her. _Don´t come again. You´re too weak. You don´t fight dirty enough, you don´t have the guts it needs to be an ANBU – and don´t lower your defense just because your enemy is talking, don´t ever be caught off guard!_ She´d drag her out into the forests before sunrise, she´d beat her and kick her and fight her, she´d tell her what to do and what not to do and what to do instead. She made her stay awake for two days. She made her track down something nonexistent. She made her sneak up on the Hokage (who caught her), she made her spar with other ANBU members, taught her how to fight dirty, how to keep her guard. She hadn´t noticed she was teaching the girl everything she knew until Kurenai asked her: "How´s the training going?"

Her friend was sitting at the bar next to her, her red eyes curious. Anko spluttered into her glass.

"What training?"

"You´re training the Yamanaka girl, aren´t you? I´ve seen you on the training grounds with her several times."

"I´m not training her! I´m just…"

Kurenai smiled. Anko fell silent. There was no way she could deny those words after having indeed spent half of the last year with the girl.

-V-

Yashiro had a deep cut in his leg and several stab wounds all over his body. He was almost unconscious from the loss of blood. His dog was trailing behind him, wailing softly.

Ino was still standing, her broken wrist hanging loosely by her side, she had pushed up her mask and her face was a bloody mess.

Anko herself probably looked equally bad. She didn´t stop to think of it but took off in the general direction of the little village they had passed through on their way.

The village had been attacked.

It was still burning, flames licking hungrily at the simple, wooden huts. Smoke and ashes were so thick they could barely breathe. The streets were lined with dead bodies, wearing their best clothes and an expression of utter horror. Children and adults, old and young. Whoever had done this hadn´t seen any reason to spare anyone.

Women were crying, tears cutting deep lines into their dirt-streaked faces, even while trying to form a line of water buckets to put out the flames. Children were screaming. Here and there, Anko could still see parts of the wagons that had carried the big statues of the patron saints of the village. These were laying not far away, shattered masses of wood and ceramic and gold varnish. Trampled flowers. Torn clothes.

"What has happened here?" Yashiro whispered, his voice too quiet to be overheard. Ino remained silent.

Anko tried to put together the pieces in her head: The Fire country´s lord requested a mission to retrieve stolen information from two missing nin who happened to chose this way. Some unknown shinobi attacked the ANBU team dispatched to distract their attention while others attacked and burned down the village. Why? Where was the connection? The enemy had called itself _Hikari_ and had claimed Konoha a worthy opponent. Someone had _tested_ them; someone had led them into a trap to gather information on them and had demonstrated his power at the same time. Someone wanted them to see this village, someone had let them escape so they could return to Hidden Leaf and tell what they had seen…

Someone… Someone would pay for this.

Anko dug her nails into her palms until her hand started to bleed. Behind her, Ino was bandaging up Yashiro.

-V-

"_Have you really forgotten your past, sensei?"_

"_Why the hell do you think you´d be allowed such a question!"_

"_I think you just want to make anyone believe you have forgotten what happened to you. Because, if you really have forgotten, you´re a coward."_

"_Keep your tongue, lady! That´s none of your business!"_

"_And the woman who trained me is not a coward."_

_-V-  
_

Anko cast her glance across the scene of destruction. A few hours ago, this town had been a lively and happy village. A few hours ago, everyone here had been alive.

The image of the girl flashed before her eyes. The little girl in her red dress. Red as the blood that´s slowly trickling from her cut throat.

As red as Anko´s own tears.

* * *

_A/N: I actually did research on this story. I seldom use the names of attacks and jutsu in a story, but it seemed appropriate here. Personally, I like Anko very much... She´s a rare character in fan fiction, though. This is for her and for all the people who like her, too. _


End file.
